Junta supremo praises protégé in Kachin State

Kachin News

The Burmese ruling junta supremo Snr-Gen. Than Shwe is all praise for one of his protégés the Northern Command Commander Maj-Gen. Ohn Myint. He has been promoted to Commander of No. 1 Bureau of Special Operation for upper Burma in the recent reshuffle, a local military source said.

Sources close to Maj-Gen Ohn Myint said, Snr-Gen Than Shwe praised the Kachin State commander saying “He is a reliable man except when he is drunk.”

After nearly three years' of ruling Kachin State, Commander Ohn Myint not only successfully pressurized all Kachin ceasefire groups to support the constitutional referendum in May but also divided and ruled the Kachin ceasefire groups, said local military analysts.

Commander Ohn Myint's notable success was that he pressurized the strongest Kachin ceasefire group, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) militarily, politically and economically from 2005 to now.

On May 7, 2008 at 3 a.m. Maj-Gen. Ohn Myint went to the KIO Headquarters in Laiza in a heavily armed military convoy from Northern Command in Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State and forced the KIO to shift from its neutral stand and support the referendum.

The KIO's main sources of income -- businesses such as logging, gold mining and Myitkyina-Laiza border trade were often blocked on the orders of Maj-Gen. Ohn Myint, KIO officials said.

Another milestone for the commander is that he helped set up the Rawang militia group called the Rebellion Resistance Force led (RRF) by a local businessman Tanggu Dang (Ah Dang) in Hkaunglangfu (Hkawnglanghpu) in Putao District with direct military, financial and political support in early 2006.

Earlier, Ah Dang and about 25 followers were members of another Kachin peace group, the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K). They split from the NDA-K with their weapons.

Maj-Gen. Ohn Myint also played a key role in an unsuccessful coup in the NDA-K to remove the leader Zahkung Ting Ying on September 14, 2005 by his rival former General Secretary Layawk Zelum and businessman Lauwa Zawng Hkawng, sources close to NDA-K said.

During Commander Maj-Gen. Ohn Myint's leadership in Kachin State, he successfully pressurized the KIO politically and partly scaled down the KIO's economic power, local sources said.